Our yearly "smart" fair, The Bath Decorative Fair, is coming up soon, the trade opening being next week on the 7th of March.

Some dealers are very fair orientated and we are less so. Once you start to save all of your best pieces just for the big fairs where (you hope) things can fetch higher prices then your regular and trade buyers are bound to be put off. On the other hand those travelling miles to a fair and setting off early to get high up the queue would obviously hope that they are to be rewarded with some choice “reserved” pieces and rightly so. We try to get the right balance, we will generally sell anything all the year around but nevertheless we make some effort to keep a few of the very best items especially for the opening day of the fair and fortunately we have enough good stock to do this.

The Bath Decorative Fair is one of the few fairs left where in the opening hour or two of the fair there is a real buzz and dealers rush around trying to buy the best pieces.

The first year we did the fair our star lot was a giant rocking horse in original colours on lovely bow rockers and with two seats for passengers. This sold within minutes of the fair opening. The first punter who enquired on the piece balked at the price tag of £3500 and said that he had seen a similar one recently “in Bristol”(!), for £850. Hardly likely, we thought, and this almost dampened our team’s spirits but moments later the second enquirer who “had flown over especially to find great things” had written out a cheque and it was sold.

The next year our star lot was a tilt-top Manxman pedestal table, with unclothed “human” legs and feet, a most unusual piece. It didn’t sell being priced perhaps a little too high (a lesson in that) but it generated a huge amount of attention and many pats on the back. It’s always nice to find, and very hard to find i might add, one decorative item to place at the front of your pitch that is so remarkable it stands out from the rest of the show and receives plaudits from all the old hands in attendance.

One year, with the rocking horse, in mind, we brought a small French carousel horse in nice white and red colours. It wasn’t the very best piece and i hadn’t exactly decided what to put at the front of the stand quite but with moments to go before the fair opened and an eager mass of traders with face pressed to the doors, Will, my senior lieutenant at the time, staggered in carrying the wooden horse. This was before Will’sback operation and he was unsteady on his feet, and as he leant forward to placethe horse on the front table in pride of place he tripped and the horse toppled to the floor and broke into several pieces(some of you will know that a true carousel horse is made out ofparts and so in the long run it wasn’t so bad but it certainly couldn’t be fixed there and then). This dramatic scenario meanwhilehad been witnessed by Anon, a well known t.v. personality ofthe time, who had exclusive access to the pre-opening as he was filming for a programme. He stood aghast with horror and sympathy, like a choral figure from a Greek tragedy. He looked at me, looked at Will, looked at the pile of painted wood on the floor, and then at me again, waiting,for me I presume to burst into either fury or tears. I did neither but helped clear up the mess. All good antique dealers should have somethingup their sleeve and i calmly went out back and in moments returnedclutching a superb 18th century trade store figure of an Indian,with rich original colour and patina. I placed it on the tableand stood back to admire, it was a far superior piece to thecarousel horse, I had recently acquired it and i wasn’t entirely sure i wanted to sell it but this had made up my mind. I looked aroundto find our t.v. man still looking on at this strange theatre ofdisaster and redemption. “It’s...it’s...very nice...very nice...”, he saidstepping forward, brushing his tousled locks across hisbrow...”how much..how much..much.. could it be possiblybe??" A deal was then struck for a fair sum, and not a minute after the fair had opened but a minute before.

In the past i have seen dealers who bring in only 3 or 4 big loads of fresh stock a year from far away places sell off their choicest half a dozen items within minutes of arrival just in order to pay the lorry driver the transport fee leaving the intrepid importer at the end of the day with a shed full of third rate stock that "everybody has seen". Such sights were a good lesson in cash and stock management and i have always tried to make sure that in being able to buy in new items every week and even every day then any visitor on any day should find something to inspire them and make them feel the trip was worth the effort.

I am sure this would be the case this week but with the 24th Bath Fair one week away now there will also necessarily be a few pieces under wraps (or blankets) and “available strictly from March 7th” when said items will be at the fair either on our stand or in the van and for those who can’t make it to the Fair uploading to the site later that day or the next!